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People First: The Importance of People in Defense in the Digital Age

Defense agencies that embrace digital will put people first

Overview

The Accenture Technology Vision 2016

The world is in the midst of a major technology revolution, specifically a
digital revolution. Digital is now dominating every aspect of the defense
organization—from the front end to the back end. Change is the new
normal. More than 80 percent of executives anticipate that the pace of
technology change will increase rapidly over the next three years. As
these technology advancements dramatically disrupt the workforce,
defense agencies that equip their staff with new skills can fully
capitalize on these innovations. But as many defense organizations,
already reeling from the impacts of technology and the changes they
need to make in response, find themselves temporarily overwhelmed
by the magnitude of the tasks ahead. Getting past the digital culture
shock sounds daunting. But fortunately there are models already
available for inspiration. Putting people first will enable defense agencies
to continuously create fresh ideas and develop cutting-edge products,
processes and procedures.

The Accenture Technology Vision 2016 identifies five technology
trends, fueled by the people first principle, that are essential to success
in a security or defense environment that is increasingly digital. How
will they shape the future of defense organizations?

Intelligent
Automation

The essential new co-worker
for the digital age

Liquid
Workforce

Building the workforce for
today's digital demands

Platform
Economy

Technology-driven
business model innovation
from the outside in

Predictable
Disruption

Looking to digital
ecosystems for the next
wave of change

Digital
Trust

Strengthening customer
relationships through
ethics and security

Trend 1

Intelligent AutomationThe essential new co-worker
for the digital age

Powered by artificial intelligence, the next wave of intelligent
automation solutions will gather unprecedented amounts of data from
disparate systems and create solutions that fundamentally change the
defense organization, as well as what it does and how it does it.

Defense organizations can expect to see unmanned physical solutions
as well as unmanned automated, cyber and virtual solutions. For
example, artificial intelligence can predict, observe and sense
incidents from big data that human intelligence or signal intelligence
methods are unable to detect.

Digital also opens up the potential for machine learning or artificial
intelligence to “weaponize” data—increasing volumes of data, and the
capability to manage it—is a growing challenge for defense
organizations. Predictive analytics can help defense organizations
gain swift outcomes. Advanced analytics can help defense
organizations to enhance military capability as well as take mission
support efficiency up to the next level.

Digital solutions are also being used to align the interaction between
warfighters and defense with the current expectations of digitally
savvy millennials. As warfighter services and mission processes are
becoming more intelligent, digital, interactive and automated, the
military capability can benefit significantly from technology evolution.

Trend 2

Liquid WorkforceBuilding the workforce for
today’s digital demands

Increasingly, today’s defense organizations are challenged by attracting and retaining the right talent. Digital technologies have changed how the military workforce operates. Rapid innovation demands continuous learning and re-skilling. Growing automation and robotics reduce the need for less qualified personnel. Digital situational awareness and command and control systems means decision making can happen faster and more comprehensively at the frontline of military operations. Such developments require highly qualified, digitally savvy and flexible personnel. Managing this new talent also needs a predictive approach, as the impact of new technologies on skills and workforce structure must be understood early enough to plan accordingly.

With many armed forces serving in operations internationally, a high degree of flexibility is needed around not only the staffing of soldiers but also the training required to multi-skill and reskill the military workforce within short time periods. For example, many military personnel may find themselves working out in the field with digitally controlled weapon systems, sophisticated command and control systems and complex IT applications. Increasingly, they will be equipped with handheld devices, sensor capabilities and all kinds of digital assistants that support the sharing and receiving of information “on-the-move.”

A next generation of digitally savvy staff is required; yet typically, these millennials do not wish to commit to standard, long term work contracts. Millennials are seeking out jobs that combine exciting challenges, excellent qualification programs, and flexible career paths. In future, to meet these demands and build a liquid workforce, military leaders will need to consider new digital tools, systems, and workforce management approaches.

Millennials are seeking out jobs that combine exciting challenges, excellent qualification programs, and flexible career paths.

Trend 3

The Platform EconomyTechnology-driven business
model innovation from the
outside in

Industry leaders are unleashing technology’s power by developing platform-based business models and strategies to drive the most profound change in the global macroeconomic environment since the Industrial Revolution. This is reinforced by 81 percent of our survey respondents who agree that platform-based operating models will become part of their organization’s core strategy within three years.

Platform-centric operating models and strategies are being considered in many defense organizations across the world. In the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Defence unveiled a new initiative to overhaul the department’s information, communications and technology capabilities. Known as “defence-as-a-platform’” the vision involves the department moving from multiple silo’ed systems with duplicate functions to a unified, common architecture supporting all end user services.

Trend 4

Predictable DisruptionLooking to digital ecosystems
for the next wave of change

Fast-emerging digital ecosystems are creating the foundation for the next big wave of enterprise disruptions by straddling markets and blurring industry boundaries; forward-thinking leaders can proactively predict these ecosystem trajectories to gain a competitive advantage.

Established defense organizations can no longer rely on their traditional way of doing things. They must draw on different ecosystems to provide new services—whether that is social media, artificial intelligence, connected ecosystems, connected services, smarter machines, or intelligent processing capabilities. Within a few decades, machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence and technology investments lifecycles are shortening—requiring more frequent re-investments or midlife upgrades. As a result, defense organizations need to re-align their technology strategies, and speed up procurement and development cycles.

81% of survey respondents are already recognizing significant or moderate ecosystem disruption in their industry.

Trend 5

To gain the trust of individuals, ecosystems and regulators in this new landscape, defense organizations must recognize that better security, on its own, will not be enough. The question of how to build trust in a digital environment is highly relevant to defense organizations. Whether pursuing data security outcomes—taking advantage of cybersecurity awareness or training of military personnel—or collaborating with other countries, defense organizations must continue to work in a secure way as the digital world evolves. Data integrity, quality and accuracy is vital for situational awareness. Defense organizations need to carefully assess how they can secure not only the identity but also the access of a warfighter in a digital environment, whether from headquarters or the field. As the number of digital devices increase and as operations are more dependent on those digital devices, security, trust and reliability are evermore critical.

Defense leaders may be investing in digital technologies, but due to a lack of trust they are not adopting them quickly enough. Even though there are moves to embrace the private cloud, there is a suspicion about the public cloud—a reluctance to entrust military data outside of the defense organization’s own four walls. Embracing mobility and employing a liquid workforce requires new thinking around being able to trust in the integrity of data received and shared. There will always be a need for multiple security levels which means there is an added complexity to gaining digital trust.

Unlike most other organizations, the defense industry has responsibility for the safety and security of the nation, so defense leaders are wise to want to ensure the security, integrity, and reliability of the networks and systems for which they have responsibility.

Trust is a cornerstone of the digital economy, said 83 percent of survey respondents.

About the research

Ready to thrive in a digital world?

The research process began inputs from the Technology Vision External Advisory Board, a group comprising more than two dozen experienced individuals from the public and private sectors, academia, venture capital, and entrepreneurial companies. The team conducted interviews with technology luminaries and industry experts, as well as with nearly 100 Accenture business leaders. The team also tapped into the vast pool of knowledge and innovative ideas from professionals across Accenture, using our collaboration technologies and a crowdsourcing approach to run an online contest to uncover the most interesting emerging technology themes. More than 3,200 participants actively engaged in the contest, contributing valuable ideas and voting on others’ inputs. The board’s workshop, involving a series of “deep-dive” sessions with Accenture leadership and external subject-matter experts, validated and further refined the themes.

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